The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 5th August

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions. It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

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Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

George K says:

5 Aug5 August 08:56

No more Le Meridien for London, it would appear… (the terrace was the best bit about it, underground pool a close second)

https://loyaltylobby.com/2020/08/05/le-meridien-piccadilly-exits-marriott-system-on-november-26-2020/
- Rob says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 09:35
  
  Interesting. Was always a bit of an odd hotel – wrong brand and position for the location.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:45
  
  All the reports were that this was a poor property in need of a refurb
  
  perhaps its mutual
Graham D says:

5 Aug5 August 09:06

Received an email from BA yesterday for a holiday that I elected to cancel for an FTV.

Seems that the goalposts have been moved again – if I want to book another holiday, I have to pay the deposit using my bank card. I then need to email BA and they then reduce the outstanding amount due by the value of my voucher. The email seems to imply it is for holidays only too.

Crafty by BA – they keep hold of my existing money and then I have to shell out in order to redeem it.
- Lady London says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:09
  
  More sneaky moves by BA to use customers’ cash as their own free of charge. You can bet they’ll take their own sweet time to credit it back toi – they’re just adding the first barrier between you and your money by making you make a separate call to get the money you already paid them credited
  
  What would happen if you phoned to book, paid by more cash as they are demanding, and then said “I’ll just hang on the line while you credit back my voucher “.
  
  Do you seriously think the agent will be enabled by BA to do that? or do you think you will be told you have to fill out another form on the website and/or “it has to go to back office for processing”
  That will be on an unspecified timetable, or one that will br breached or require chasing and/or take 1 week or even 1 month or more.
  
  Sorry BA this is abuse of customers.
Princess says:

5 Aug5 August 09:26

Hi everybody,
Question for who was in Iceland recently.
I‘Ve seen you need to get a Covid test at the airport, (unless you want to quarantine).
Tests results seem to be ready in max 12 hours. Do you need to quarantine while waiting for the test?
- Luckyjim says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 09:38
  
  Obvs
  - meta says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 10:55
    
    Not exactly. You are allowed to use public transport, go to rental car agency to pick up your car, but you then need to go to your accommodation. Results will come usually quicker (normally 4-6 hours). If you’re staying in rented accommodation you’re allowed to go out to buy food, but should limit your movements. If in a hotel, you should make use of room service if available. So the advice is basically limit your movements to necessary ones. The reason they give 12 hours is that it might be longer if they are really busy.
    
    Bear in mind also that if you’re staying more than 10 days they you need to self-isolate regardless of covid result for 14 days, but you can take another test after 4-6 days which is free and if negative end isolation. This is a new rule introduced last week.
Anna says:

5 Aug5 August 09:42

Re changing Ryanair flights. I was looking at alternative to my October half term trip to Carcassonne as a new quarantine requirement would mean my son missing 2 weeks of school and also I’m not entirely happy about flying at all this year. Change fee seems to be £70 pp which is rather annoying given that I will be making any changes myself, online. However, Ryanair keep showing my “original” fare as £147, when it was actually just over £200, then quoting full fare for the new flights. I can only think they are leaving out the APD element (or baggage and seat selection charges), but applying them again to the new price. Has anyone else experienced this?
- Princess says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:09
  
  Anna, have you tried to ask them to clarify what’s happening in the chat? Incredibly the were fast and really helpful with me.
  I was in a different situation, because they cancelled the flight, but they manage to move the flight on new dates without charging fare difference, and Everything was done in 10-15 minutes of messages on the chaT
  - Anna says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 10:10
    
    Hi Princess, no I haven’t tried chat but Ryanair hasn’t cancelled the flight so I assume I am still bound by the usual change terms.
- Wollhouse says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 12:17
  
  Hi Anna, yes, Ryanair are promoting their “no change fees, pay the difference”.policy…but, have a look and see what a NEW flight would cost. They’re often showing a change as way more expensive than just buying a new flight. I appreciate that flight prices are dynamic, but if you look on two devices concurrently (DONT log in on one) there is sometimes a massive difference and not in your favour. Personally, I think They should be slammed for this, but unless they are, I guess they’ll keep doing it as many people won’t necessarily check new flight pricing.
  - Anna says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 14:09
    
    Is that no change fees for recent bookings? They want £140 from me!
    - Wollhouse says:
      
      5 Aug5 August 16:03
      
      Website says below- they may extend but if you don’t fall into that, and you’ve got the normal change fee each way plus flight price changes, a new fare might be cheaper. As an aside, I had to change an EasyJet flight (same concept: £0 change fee/pay fare difference only) and they did it for £0!
      
      We know your plans may change so we’ve dropped our flight
      change fees for all new bookings made for travel in July, August and September.This means you can change your flight time, date or even destination, giving you complete flexibility and peace of mind. Move your flight for free to any date before 31 Dec 2020, just pay the fare difference.
      
      This is only applicable to new bookings made after 10 June for travel in July and August and new bookings made after 16 July for September
  - Lady London says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 16:37
    
    I have caught Easyjet doing the exact ssme sneaky up-pricing wben forced to phone for flight changes that couldnt be done online pre-Covid.
    
    They headline no change fees but are whacking in higher fares that are not available to the customer to view. Excess ‘fare’ money they wanted was 5 times higher than the fare showing as available for purchase as a completely new ticket online at that very same instant.
    - Colin MacKinnon says:
      
      5 Aug5 August 16:39
      
      What did they say when you told them?
      - Lady London says:
        
        5 Aug5 August 20:06
        
        That since last October or so agents must use a completely separate ‘phone in’ price list. the phone-in price is not the same as the price you can buy the flight for on the internet with tbe screen open at the precise same moment. Naturally it is more by, say, something between £7.50 and £20. But several times I was quoted amounts like £55-£75 more.
        
        Apparently this was what happened to their frequent fliers who did get a concession on the change fee if they phoned up but this higher price list was being applied instead to the flight they wanted to change to. So there was an undeclared clawback. And no they woukdnt let their frequent fliers do their own changes online to avoid thjs silent surcharge either. A situation it would be decent of them notvto go back to.
Duncan says:

5 Aug5 August 09:51

Sorry if this has been previously answered.
BA flight cancellation, I’d like a refund not a voucher. Can’t see any way to do this on line and when you call it always says call back later we are too busy. Any suggestions? Thanks
- Harry T says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:07
  
  Call first thing in the morning. Unfortunately there is no online option.
  Some people are reporting success with not pressing any numbers when asked to choose options during the initial phone call.
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 10:25
    
    Not pressing selection numbers did not work for me last week, try at 8am or 7.30pm.
    - meta says:
      
      5 Aug5 August 10:58
      
      If you call early then not pressing numbers work. If later then you need to press anything that will get you to an agent. Less busy times are also around lunchtime, from around 12:30 to 2:00pm.
- Andrew says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:58
  
  If you have status then ring the dedicated number for your tier rather than the general number (log in to BA.com to see the number) as I’ve always been answered within a few minutes when ringing the Gold line. And if the booking is in First, ring You First, who have answered the call within seconds whenever I’ll called over this period.
- Peggers says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 12:17
  
  I had to contact BA yesterday re a refund. I phoned around 2pm and did not select any numbers and got through within 5 mins. All sorted.
Keely says:

5 Aug5 August 10:26

Morning all , just musing on my plans for Jan and would welcome advice. I’ve booked 241 flights to a Singapore (our first long haul reward flights 😁) – the plan was to go onto Bangkok, Chiang Mai and one of the islands (not sure which). I’m really hoping that the current situation will be much better but….! Obviously I can book refundable hotels but a bit unsure what to do about flights…does anybody have experience of changing /amending flights with SE Asian carriers…? (These will be cash bookings but paid on cc ). I’m minded to wait a few more months yet anyway but just wondered how easy/hard It would be to change. My 241 expires in May, I’d really rather not change due to leave years etc . Worse case scenario I’d have to change to somewhere else for the same time period …thanks !
- memesweeper says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 11:21
  
  You may find a redemption option via Cathay or Malaysian for intra-Asia flights which would give you some flex if booked now.
  
  Air Asia and Scoot can be so cheap anyway you could afford to just write it off if you cancelled the entire trip.
  
  SIN – KBV (for Ko Jum) then overnight trains from Trang to BKK and overnight again to CNX. Scoot can get you back from CNX to SIN direct.
  - memesweeper says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 11:21
    
    SIN – KBV is (or was) a Scoot route.
  - Keely says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 11:59
    
    Thanks I’ll take a look at the train too …
    - Lyn says:
      
      5 Aug5 August 18:35
      
      We have always enjoyed the train journey up to Chiang Mai from Bangkok.
- ankomonkey says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 14:19
  
  Was due to be in Asia now but everything I’d booked got cancelled. Scoot were amazing – offered a full refund before the flight was even cancelled. Air Asia offered only a voucher for their cancelled flight and I had to do a chargeback.
  - Keely says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 14:20
    
    Thanks that’s useful to know !
- Spk says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 15:06
  
  Plenty of airlines in that area, (though not sure how many have survived) so last min bookings are not expensive. You can also book cheap avios or star alliance flights on MH / TG / SQ if you have the respective miles. Regional airlines seem to have restrictive policies. I’d hold off buying any cash tickets, until I am certain to fly. Chiang Mai is a great place to visit – make sure you avoid the smog in spring.
  - Keely says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 21:29
    
    Thanks- we will be there early Feb (fingers crossed!) so hopefully we’ll avoid it!
Barry says:

5 Aug5 August 10:35

Hi all, last month I got a refund for a BA 241 redemption to HKG for which I originally paid 90k + 60k Avios. I’ve checked my balance and I only had 88,135 + 50,154 Avios refunded.
Is there a reason why the full amount wasn’t redeposited?
Thanks!
- Keely says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:40
  
  Did you use a Household account to pay? I had this and points were redeposited into partner and son’s accounts.
- Anna says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:42
  
  Yes, sounds like the other avios might have gone into your travel companion’s BAEC account.
  - Barry says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 11:28
    
    Checked my partner’s account and the missing amounts have been deposited there.
    
    Thanks guys! Saved me from having to make a lengthy call to BA!
mark2 says:

5 Aug5 August 10:41

Reported by MSE:
£100 bribe to move current account to Halifax; usual T&C apply.
https://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/current-accounts/reward-current-account.html
- Anna says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:43
  
  Excellent, thanks, I’m ready to move from my M & S account which can’t offer me any incentive to stay after the 1st year.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 10:50
  
  Thanks will move my M&S account too
- Connor says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 11:29
  
  Just moved an old FD account. Surprisingly easy to apply for an account with Halifax, no ID required!
- Harry T says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 12:09
  
  annoying that you either have to let 5k fester in there or spend £500 a month on the debit card!
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 13:02
    
    Easy to spend £500 a month on a debit card. just top up your Ernie or withdraw via curve at ATM etc etc
    - Harry T says:
      
      5 Aug5 August 13:10
      
      Good point about Ernie! Convenient now that NS&I is actually offering some of the best interest rates on easy access savings too (though I know that’s not our main interest in Ernie in these parts).
      - Leigh says:
        
        5 Aug5 August 13:31
        
        Paying credit card bill also counts towards the £500 spend (tested).
  - Anna says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 14:12
    
    I hadn’t seen that but I usually have a chunky HH bill to pay and Barclaycard will only accept mainstream debit cards for payment!
  - Connor says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 15:55
    
    You get the £100 pretty much as soon as you’ve switched, just convert to a standard current account after you get the £100 and keep the account open for the next switching offer.
- Lee says:
  
  5 Aug5 August 16:02
  
  Does that work if you have current account with Halifax already?
  - Rhys says:
    
    5 Aug5 August 16:39
    
    no
    - Charlieface says:
      
      6 Aug6 August 04:11
      
      Annoying, historically they allowed it.
      Note the lookback period is now April 2018 as opposed to January 2012 (!)